Door-catch-operating mechanism.



G. F. LOVDALL.

DOOR CATCH OPERATING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED JULY I7. 1916.

1,218,789. Patented Mar. 13,1917.

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GEORGE F. LOVDALL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO UNI-MOTION DOOR HANDLE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

DOOR-CATCH-OPERATING IIIECI-IANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application fi1cd July 17, 1916. Serial No. 109,609.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE F. LOVDALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Door-Catch-Operating Mechanisms, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved mechanism for operating door catches of standard construction in which the lower edge of the door catch casing is provided with a movable member by which the catch is operated. My operating mechanism is wholly outside of and independent from the catch casing and the mechanism contained therein, as a result of which the operating mechanism may be mounted upon doors already provided with standard catches of the kind referred to and furthermore, as a result of my construction, any desired style of hardware may be used upon a door equipped with any catch of the kind mentioned.

My invention is an improvement upon the construction shown in Patent No. 1158881 issued November 2, 1915, to Albert Akerhielm in that the operating parts of my mechanism are pivotally supported throughout so that, with the exception of the pivotal supports, the parts are entirely free from the door and the metal plates or housings used to secure the operating mechanism in proper position upon the door whereas in the patent mentioned the operating rod or rods are mounted in plates upon the door so as to be capable of reciprocation there through, there being a sliding contact between the rod or rods and the plates. I

find that the operating mechanism of the patent referred to operates satisfactorily under many conditions but that the push or pull exerted upon the operating mechanism in the case of the patent in order to operate the catch is sometimes sufficiently great to render the mechanism difiicult of operation 7 and it is the purpose of the present'invention to so reduce the amount of the push or 'pull required as to make the mechanism easily operable under all conditions. In the mechanism of the patent referred to, as well as in the present invention, but a single motion is required to operate the catch and move the door to its open position. But

with the mechanism of the patent referred to I find it desirable to eXert the operating thrust nearly or quite in line with the reciprocable operating rod to prevent binding of the latter, whereas with my present invention it is immaterial at what angle the operating thrust is communicated to the operating mechanism as long as it is in the general direction of opening or closing the door, the construction of the mechanism being such that there is no binding of the parts for any direction of the operating thrust.

My invention is shown in its preferred embodiment in the accompanying'drawings, in tvhich- Figure 1 shows a door in edge elevation with my operating mechanism attached thereto,

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken parallel with the plane of the door through the catch casing,

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken transversely of the plane of the door along the operating bar of the mechanism, and

Fig. at shows in side elevation a part of a door equipped with my door catch operating mechanism.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

As shown in Fig. 2 the catch construction with which the operating mechanism is designed to be used consists of a casing 10 provided with a catch 11 secured to the end of a bolt 12 around which a spring 13 is mounted to maintain the catch in its outermost position. The inner end of the bolt 11 is provided with a disk 1a engaged by a bell crank 15 pivotally mounted in the casing 10 at 16 and engaged at its lower end by a plunger 17 disposed. so that its outer surface forms a part of the edge wall of the casing. As a result of the construction described any motion upward of the plunger 17 vmoves the bell crank lever 15 upon its pivot and forces the bolt 11 inward against the action of the spring 13, thus moving the catch 11 to its PatentedMar. 13, 1917.

hand it is adapted to operate any catch of this class in which an operating member is provided which, when pushed into the cas ing, withdraws the catch from engagement with its retaining device in the door-frame.

The door catch is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 as mounted in a door 18 and my operating mechanism consists of a bell crank lever 19 pivotally supported at 20 from a plate 21 secured upon one of the faces of the door so that the horizontal end of the bell crank lever rests immediately below the plunger 17. The vertically extending end of the bell crank lever 19 is bifurcated as indicated in Fig. 2, so as to extend upon either side of the operating bar 22 which is provided with a pin just to the left of the bell crank lever for the relation of parts shown in Fig. 3. The operating bar 22 is in reality a link pivotally connected at its ends as indicated in Fig. 3 at 2i and 25 to operating levers 26 and 27, which are respectively pivoted at their upper ends at 28 and 29 to the plates 21 and 30. The levers 26 and 27 may be provided at their lower ends, if desired, with operating handles 31 and 32 of any desired metal or other material secured to the levers by screws or other removable means so that any design of handles may be employed with the same levers and operating bar. The plates 21 and 30 are preferably provided with inclosing housings 33 and 3% respectively covering all of the operating mecha nism except the lower portions of the handles 31 and 32, so as to give a pleasing finish to the mechanism and the door and protect the operating mechanism.

As a result of the construction described for the relation of parts shown in Fig. 3, all that is necessary to operate the catch to withdraw it from engagement with the cats ing of the door (not shown) is to either move the handle 31 toward the door or to move the handle 32 away from the door either motion serving to move the bell crank lever 19 around to the left upon its pivot 20, thus raising the plunger 17. The operating mechanism is mounted upon the door in such a manner that the handle 32 is on the side of the door toward which the door moves in being opened, as a result of which the natural motion of the hand in trying to open the door by engagement either with the handle 31 or 32 first withdraws the catch 11 and then moves the door to its open position. It will be observed that the direction of the operating thrust or pull is not material as long as it is at a suflicient angle to the plane of the door to move the lever 26 or the lever 27, as the case may be, upon its pivot and that as a result the person opening the door is not required to take any thought of how the mechanism must be actuated. The bell crank lever and operating bar referred to are entirely clear and free from the door and the mounting plates and thus there is no friction or binding possible except that which may be introduced by the pivotal connections and supports referred to by means of which the resistance to operating the mechanism is reduced to a minimum.

The operating bar 22 is preferably made of two parts secured together by screws as indicated in Fig. to provide for doors of different thickness. 1

As shown in Fig. #1, the lower end of the handle 31 may be secured to a horizontally disposed rod extending toward the hinged edge of the door where it is secured to the lower end of a link 36 pivotally connected at its upper end to a plate 37 secured to the door. As a result of this construction. the lever 26 is actuated when pressure is placed upon the rod 35 tending to move it toward the door regardless of the point of operation of the pressure upon the rod 35 which makes the operating mechanism applicable to outwardly opening'doors as a safeguard against panic of any kind, since any crowding against the bar 35'i'eleases the catch of the door and opens the door whether there is specific attempt to do so on the part of the persons against the door or not.

My invention is not only simple and effective in construction but it may be in- 9 stalled upon the door with little diiliculty since it is only necessary to bore clearance openings through the door immediately below the catch casing to receive the operating rod and bell crank lever referred to. 193

While I have shown my invention in the particular embodiment above described, I do not, however, limit myself to this exact construction as I may employ any equivalents known to the art at the time of the 165 filing of this application without departing. from the scope of the appended claims.

hat- I claim is:

1. In a mechanism for operating stand ard door catches having a movable oper- 11o ating member in the edge of the casing, the combination of two levers pivoted each at one end upon one side of the door, a link extending through the door and pivotally connecting said levers, and mechanism oper- 1 ated by said link for operating said memher, said levers having free operating ends extending from said link connections.

2. In a mechanism for operating standard door catches having a movable operating member in the edge of the casing, the combination of two levers pivoted one upon each side of the door, a link extending through the door and pivotally connecting said levers, and a bell crank lever operated bysaid link for operating said member.

3. In a mechanism for operating standard door catches having a movable operating member in the edge of the casing, the combination of a reciprocable rod extending through the door, pivotal supports for the ends of said rod, and a bell crank lever operated by said rod for operating said member.

i. In a mechanism for operating standard door catches having a movable operating member in the edge of the casing, the combination of two levers pivoted one upon each side of the door, a link extending through the door and pivotally connecting said levers, mechanism operated by said link for operating said member, and housings surrounding the pivot ends of said levers and the pivotal connections of said link.

5. In a mechanism for operating standard door catches having a movable operating member in the edge of the casing, the combination of two levers pivoted one upon each side of the door, a link extending through the door and pivotally connecting said levers, mechanism operated by said link for operating said member, and housings surround ing the pivot ends of said levers, said housings secured to the pivotal supports of said levers.

(.3. In a mechanism for operating standard door catches having a movable operating member in the edge of the casing, the combination of two levers pivoted one upon each side of the door, a link extending through the door and pivotally connecting said levers, a bell crank lever operated by said link for operating said member, and housings surrounding the pivot ends of said levers, said housings carrying the pivotal supports of said levers and bell crank lever.

7. In a mechanism for operating standard door catches having a movable operating member in the edge of the casing, the combination of two levers pivoted one upon each side of the door, a link extending through the door and pivotally connecting said levers, mechanism operated by said link for operating said member, a rod extending horizontally from one of said levers, and a swinging support for the other end of said rod, whereby movement of said rod operates said member.

8. In a mechanism for operating standard door catches having a movable operating member in the edge of the casing, the combination of two levers pivoted one upon each side of the door, a link extending through the door and pivotally connecting said levers, mechanism operated by said link for operating said member, and handles removably secured to said levers.

9. In a mechanism for operating standard door catches having a movable operating member in the edge of the casing, the combination of two levers pivoted one upon each side of the door, a link extending through the door and pivotally connecting said levers, mechanism operated by said. link for operating said member, housings surrounding the pivot ends of said levers, handles for said levers extending outside of said housings, and screw connections between said handles and said levers, whereby handles of different design may be mounted as desired upon said levers.

10. In a mechanism for operating standard door catches having a movable operating member in the edge of the casing, the combination of two levers pivoted each at one end upon one side of the door, a link extending through the door and pivotally connecting said levers, and mechanism operated by said link for operating said member, said link being free from contact with said door and parts carried thereby except where it engages said levers and said mechanism, said levers having free operating ends extending from said link connections.

11. In a mechanism for operating standard door catches having a movable operating member in the edge of the casing, the combination of two levers pivoted one upon each side of the door, a link extending through the door and pivotally connecting said levers, mechanism operated by said link for operating said member, one of said levers operating said member by being moved toward said door, a rod extending horizontally from said one lever, and a pivoted link secured to said other end of said rod to support the same, whereby motion of said rod toward the door operates said member.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 12th day of July, A. D. 1916.

GEORGE F. LOVDALL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

